


tell me where's your hiding place

by SapphireSue



Category: Arctic Monkeys
Genre: AU, M/M, also lack of research lol, younger!Alex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 22:25:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2749376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphireSue/pseuds/SapphireSue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alex and his stupid crush throughout the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	tell me where's your hiding place

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I would like to tell you that this is an AU fic where they have like 7+ years age gap. There might be some wrong information here since I didn't bother looking up much on the Google lol. I made a few things up and I hope you wouldn't mind. I hope you enjoy this I spent too long writing this, okay?! Jkjk have fun bby <3
> 
> LAME TITLE IS LAME. (I couldn't think of a good one and even though I swore never to use their lyrics as the title, I didn't have a choice because it was the only thing that came into my mind and it just sorta fit.)
> 
> No beta, no hate plox.

He was just twelve when he met Jamie. He was that tall, quiet guy behind Alex’s older sister. She’d met him at college, she said, in one of her classes. Alex craned his neck to meet Jamie’s eyes, and his mouth was agape when they shook hands.

 

“How old are you, huh, sport?” Jamie asked, leaning down slightly to meet his level.

 

Alex sniffed, answering, “I’m twelve years old.” And sniffed again, rubbing the back of his hand against his nose. He didn’t really care much that time. His sister had a lot of friends, always had a truck-full on tow whenever she comes to visit the family. Alex didn’t mind, but there was just too many of them, and he was sure that this Jamie guy would also get lost along the waves of his sister’s thousand friends. He didn’t disappear easily though, ‘cause Jamie was a cool guy.

 

Alex liked him instantly, because he wasn’t like the rest of his sister’s friends. They were loud and joked about inappropriate things, things that made Alex scrunch his nose and feel uncomfortable. They poked fun at him too, and at times asked him questions that made him furrow his brows and scratch the back of his head. They laughed every single time. Jamie was different though. He talked about a fieldtrip he went to when he was in high school, about a zoo with a baby elephant and a sleeping lion. He talked about interesting things, told him facts that he knew were legit because he never laughed or joked about it. He talked about his uptight professor who hisses at students and accidentally spits on their face in the process. When it was time to go, he ruffled Alex’s hair before he left. Alex’s mum called them best friends ever since.

 

The next time his sister visited with Jamie among her friends, it was two weeks before Christmas. Alex instantly knew it was them the minute he heard a loud chatter nearing their house. He dashed to the window in his room and peeked using his father’s binoculars. When he saw Jamie walking with the group, he rushed to the door. He opened it before his sister could, and he grinned at her, before turning to her new horde of college buddies, searching. And like the first time they met, they talked. He appreciated it that Jamie kept their conversations ‘PG’, and how he would always scold the other college lads whenever they would say something inappropriate when Alex was around.

 

Before he left, Alex made sure to tell him to visit at Christmas and get him a gift. His mum laughed and so did Jamie. The door closed behind him, and he didn’t pass through that door at the day he promised. Alex waited the entire day, sitting by the window, binoculars on his lap and snacks scattered around him. He woke up early just for that reason. His mum told him at the dinner table, “Eyes on the food, Alex. If you don’t finish your meal, you won’t get to open your gift.” He stared at her, then looked at his plate, then back to the window. When she told him Jamie wouldn’t arrive if he didn’t eat, he glued his eyes to his plate and tried to eat as fast as he could. His dad looked at his mum, she looked back at him but no words were exchanged. They thought they were being discreet, but Alex caught them and pretended not to notice.

 

The sky was dark when his sister arrived. He almost didn’t expect it, because her car didn’t blast loud pop music and there weren’t multiple sets of feet on their porch. She walked into the dining room, holding hands with a brunet bloke whose name was something like Jan or Jerry (Jamie, he thought. But deciding he didn’t like that thought, he discarded it from his mind). He just stared at them as they greeted everyone in the room, blinking, eyebrows furrowed and mouth parted. “Where’s Jamie?” he asked, and everyone paused from what they were doing and turned to him.

 

“Jamie?” His sister asked, confused. “He went to his hometown a few days ago. He couldn’t be here.”

 

Alex didn’t know why but he stood up from his chair, so fast he almost lost balance. “But he promised, didn’t he? He said he’d buy me the cool racetrack he found at the toy shop!” His voice was unusually shrill and it surprised even himself. When he realized how he acted, he silently sat back down, a flush creeping to his cheeks. His sister raised a brow at him, but after a few seconds of agonizing silence, the chatter around the house continued. He didn’t speak louder than a whisper for the rest of the night. He knelt by the window in his room again that night. _Just in case_ , he thought. He fell asleep leaning against the window pane, circle marks around his eyes from holding the binoculars against it too long.

 

He didn’t see him the whole month but he did receive a gift wrapped racetrack on his birthday, handed by his sister who gave him a pat on the shoulder as she left. He ignored it because he was too busy ripping the gift wrap, his grin too big and painful on his face. There was a note inside, too. It said: _‘sorry for not visiting, sport. But happy birthday and stay good. –Jamie’_  
He bragged about the racetrack to his classmates and bragged about his cool college friend. They tried to ignore the constant rambling, the ‘ _Jamie this... Jamie that..._ ’, and just played with the race cars. But one of his friends snapped and without looking up from the race cars, told him, “Why are you talking so much about this Jamie guy? Do you have a crush on him?” That shut Alex up, and he didn’t speak again until another boy asked where the bathroom was.

 

Nothing much happened the entire year. Maybe that one time when they did a dance performance and he was so busy thinking about Jamie that he didn’t notice he’d been staring at his partner. They’d been teased about it all the time. She actually liked him even before that, though. So things got a little awkward between them on Valentine’s Day and the poor girl cried because he ‘led her on’. He apologized, of course, but she wouldn’t listen. They never talked after that and their classmates teased them of their ‘breakup’. Alex thought it was horrible.

 

Summer was fun. The entire family went to a beach. They had road trips during midnight. They went to restaurants more often. His sister was around too, just her and her boyfriend again. Alex didn’t care much about them, but he did catch them making out in their car. The sight made him cringe, and since then, he stopped looking out his window.

 

He forgot completely about Jamie, only reminded when he overheard his mum and sister talking about college. He just happened to pass by when he heard his own name mentioned along with Jamie’s. He stopped in his tracks and peeked at the door. His mum said, “ _Do you think Al might have a crush on Jamie?_ ” His sister’s back was turned to the door but he could imagine her rolling her eyes. “ _We can’t just jump on that, mum. What, two boys can’t be close friends? C’mon, mum, you’re just scared Al might end up like Uncle Kevin._ ” The conversation about him and Jamie was over after that, and his sister started talking about her boyfriend.

 

Alex slowly backed away from the door and crawled upstairs to his room. He lied on his bed and thought about the conversation. He couldn’t sleep the entire night, kept tossing and turning. He tried shutting his eyes, waited for hours and hours. The sun was already rising when he fell asleep. His teacher scolded him for sleeping in class later. The next few months continued to be Jamie-less.

 

He didn’t hear from Jamie on Christmas, or on his birthday. He stopped caring about it, the thought of the older boy not once crossing his mind. He was doing okay now, no more waiting by the window. Time breezed by quickly. He met a girl in high school and she liked him back. He was awkward and so was she, but in a few days of sitting next to each other in class, they started talking. She was nice. She had long brown hair and deep blue eyes, a bright smile and a beautiful laugh. They dated for a while. They didn’t really do much together, just talked about the most bizarre things, share stories with each other, all the while holding hands.

 

They didn’t last very long, though. She broke up with him for a boy in his junior year before Alex could ask if he could introduce her to his family. He liked her very much, but he kind of expected it to happen. He’d seen that boy look at her many times before anyway. But when he got home, he saw his sister sitting in the middle of her boyfriend and Jamie on their couch. It felt like his heart was never broken in the first place. Jamie looked different now, though. He had longer hair but he didn’t look much older.

 

They talked again. Jamie scared him with the stress of college and how he’d be too tired to even get a haircut. Alex laughed and when his sister and her boyfriend left to the next room, he told Jamie about his breakup. Jamie just shook his head. “You’re still young, anyway.” He said. “That’s how it was even before. Girls dig the older boys because they think they’re mature. They’re not always wrong, but they’re not always right either.” He leaned back on the couch, stretching his legs and crossing his ankles, then intertwining his fingers behind his head. Alex stared in awe.

 

“I’ll be graduating soon.” He said out of nowhere, staring blankly at the wall. “After that, all those deadlines, those reports... they’re going to disappear. Then I’ll go home and have nine hours of sleep. I’ll get a nice job and buy a nice house.”

 

Alex was grinning. “Bet you’d only buy a nice house to impress the girls you bring home.” His grin went impossibly wider when he heard a chuckle.

 

“I don’t bring girls home ‘cause I already have one to come home to.”

 

It made him frown. As much as he wanted to pry, to ask who it was, he remained silent. Jamie opened up a new conversation about something he watched on National Geographic, something quite similar to the conversations they had before. And Alex thought, _He still thinks I’m a kid._

 

They leave after dinner. His sister said, “We’ll come back with diplomas and pay checks in our hands. Wait for us in your little window, Al.” Alex didn’t wave at them or stand at the porch like he used to before. He lied in his bed, hands behind his head and eyes shut. He waited for sleep to come but it never did, so he waited for his sister and Jamie to come back instead.

 

His parents attended his sister’s graduation. They got home when it was dark and Alex was sitting on the couch with a bowl of instant noodles in his hands. His mum was pissed at him the previous night, about something he couldn’t remember but was sure it was just a minor thing that she made big. She was supposed to wake him up early so he could attend the graduation as well but she didn’t because she was being childish, so Alex woke up around 12NN.  
At least she was in a better mood when they got home, even gave him their digital camera to take a look at their photos. He refused to look at them because he didn’t really see a point why.

 

He started dating again on his senior year, partly because his mum was excited all year for prom night and partly because he met this girl named Jamie. This Jamie was blond though, with skin so pale it was almost translucent. She was quiet most of the time, awkward at some moments and also very moody. She almost never talked to him during the day but texted him relentlessly during the night. She always wanted to go on trips, always wanted to eat in diners and get coffees outside. Whenever he refuses, she’d give him the cold shoulder. Apologizing was difficult. Alex didn’t really enjoy being with _this_ Jamie. At first he thought it was funny, and he imagined talking to ‘real’ Jamie, saying, “ _Hey, so I’m dating this girl named Jamie._ ” But the more he spent time with her and the more he thought about it, it wasn’t really worth it. It stopped sounding funny in his head anyway.

 

They broke up right after prom night. Apparently the both of them were just kind of desperate for dates. Prom was boring and all they did there was be the silently arguing couple standing by the buffet table. They danced even though they didn’t feel like it, didn’t see the point of it when they both hated each other at the moment. They left early, somewhen between 8 and 9 and drove to girl-Jamie’s house. Her parents weren’t home and the sex was better than the pointless dancing and lounging around. Alex left her house at 10 and went to the diner they always went to. He ate pancakes in the corner table and watched the replay of a football game on the static TV. He contemplated whether or not to go to a convenience store and buy a tub of ice cream, but realizing he only had enough for the meal, he just drove home. When his mum asked about girl-Jamie, he just shrugged and walked to his room, kept the door locked so she couldn’t try to ask again.

 

A week later he’s back with girl-Jamie. She told him she liked him and she was sorry about being moody and stuff. Alex just nodded and smiled, took her hand and led her to some coffee shop. She began talking about her feelings, and for a second Alex thought about talking about his. He didn’t though. He just placed his hand over hers and told her it didn’t really matter ‘cause he liked her anyway. He had dinner with her family a few times after that, then her with his. His mum was happy about it and kept trying to coax girl-Jamie into talking more. She just laughed awkwardly and looked at her feet, squeezing Alex’s arm.

 

Then they broke up again. Alex just shook his head and threw his hands up in the air. They were doing so well. He introduced her to his family, took her to out on dates, made her laugh, sang her sappy love songs, wrote her poetry, and still she wasn’t happy. When they left that newly built fast-food restaurant, she looked down and told him, “ _I’m sorry, Al. You’re sweet and all, but... I’m just not happy with this kind of relationship._ ” He almost screamed at her face like, “ _Then what the fuck kind of relationship are you into, then!?_ ” But instead he just looked down and told her he understand. He watched her figure merge into the streetlights before he let himself curse it all out, walking home with the company of rolling pebble fuelled by his kicks.  
He was actually beginning to like her.

 

Girl-Jamie talked to him the next morning at school. She smiled shyly and said, “ _We’re okay, right? Let’s try not to get affected by it. I mean, we can still be friends, right?_ ” She got confused when Alex raised his fist, so he took her hand and closed it, made her fist bump with him. That was the last time he ever made her laugh and also the last time they ever exchanged words with each other. It was kind of sad but at the same time Alex wanted to shake his head and roll his eyes every time she pointedly ignored him. The annoyance eventually overcame sadness and soon enough he stopped being bitter about it. One time while in the middle of class, he scratched his head, looked up from a quiz and met girl-Jamie’s gaze. He remembered he only dated her for her name. She didn’t even have any similarities with real-Jamie. She was a poser.

 

The last time he saw girl-Jamie was on their graduation day. He was following his parents to their van and she was having a loud but happy conversation with her friends. He passed by her and their eyes met. Suddenly there was a smile on her face and she waved at him. He returned the gesture and mouthed a ‘good luck’ along with a thumbs-up.

 

Summer was spent with the whole family. His sister was alone this time, no boyfriend or friend or Jamie. The heat of the sun was quickly spent and soon he was packing up for college. He gave his room one last look before he carried the last box out, pushing the door closed with his foot. He was going to room in with his friend Matt, who was also just starting as a freshman college student. Matt had always been the kind of guy who planned things in advance, so it was no surprise to learn that he already rented the apartment in the middle of summer.

 

On his second morning in the apartment, he fixed himself up a mug of coffee and took it outside with him. The morning sun felt good on his skin. He wasn’t living in a perfect neighbourhood but it was good enough. He knew from Matt that there was a man who lived a few blocks away and always honked like mad at night for some reason. There was also an attractive girl below their floor, all long legs and seasonally changing hair dye; and a young couple staying at the room above theirs that always fought and screamed at each other, occasionally stomping their feet around and slamming doors. Matt told him everything about the neighbourhood, from shortcuts to great bakeries to that rumoured haunted house.

 

There was a construction site nearby and it drowned out the birds’ melodic tunes and the children’s angelic laughter. There was an old cranky man who lived across the street, cursing and yelling about the noise, scrunching his nose and getting the innocent passersby to agree with him. The couple who lived above their room had already started arguing, high-pitched screams and sore throated-like curses mixed together with the shattering of furniture and breaking of promises. It wasn’t the best neighbourhood to live in, but the sun shone so bright it made everything look like they were glowing and it was just too damn bright they might as well be in heaven.

 

Then he heard a fading yet strongly familiar music, and looked behind him, saw a rich brown waterfall haloed by the sun’s rays, an endless ocean with a warm crescent smile. There were a few seconds of disbelief, of squinted grins and an easy laugh, then a suppressed urge to give a tight hug.

 

“All grown up and in college now, huh, Al?” Jamie asked, leaning his arms on the railings, clasping his hands and looking below. Alex stared, partly because after all these years Jamie still looked cool (and hot) as hell and partly because he still couldn’t believe he’d run into the man again. Jamie turned back to him, glancing at his mug. “But do you know what really sounds good right now? Pancakes. I know a diner just a few minutes away from here.”

 

Alex burst out laughing.

**Author's Note:**

> The thing about the prom... I didn’t do much research on that. I got confused when reading Wikipedia so I just based their prom at my school’s here in the Philippines, where the junior and senior students have prom together and it’s usually held every Valentine’s Day or the nearest Saturday to it. Here in the Philippines before K to 12 became a thing, we graduate at 6th grade and become a high school student. So we graduate from high school at 15 or 16. We don’t move out of our parents’ house, so I don’t know if British people live in dorms or apartments and I tried Googling it. Welp.
> 
> AND I'M ALSO PLANNING ON MAKING MY THIRD JAMEX FIC LIKE THIS BUT ITS JAMIE WHO'S YOUNGER. DOES THAT SOUND LIKE A GOOD IDEA???
> 
> (also, is the ending okay? I just kind of been like "fuck it just make a lame ass ending i need to post it now")


End file.
